Free Movie For Dogs by Lois Duncan Page B

wearing a flowered sports shirt and pink pants and had a diamond stud in his right earlobe.
    He gave a gasp of startled recognition when he saw Aunt Alice in her face mask.
    “Mrs. Rinkle!” he exclaimed. “What a delightful surprise! I was under the impression that you’d fallen into a volcano!”
    “I’m not the real Mrs. Rinkle,” Aunt Alice told him, extending her hand for him to shake. “I simplyplayed her in the video, which, as you know, is a reenactment, not a documentary. My name is Alice Scudder, and I’m here to act as a chaperone for these three children. These are Bruce Walker, the producer of
Bobby Strikes Back,
and his sister, Andrea, who wrote the film script. This other young lady is Kristy Fernald, who created the video about her therapy dog.”
    “And I’m Maynard Merlin, and this is Gabby,” Mr. Merlin interjected quickly, clearly anxious not to be left out. “Gabby, say hello to Mr. Donovan.”
    Gabby said, “Allo, Mrrrr Onowam.” Apparently
D
and
V
were other letters that caused him problems.
    Mr. Donovan appeared both startled and impressed.
    “I owe you an apology, Mr. Merlin,” he said. “I must admit, I was slightly suspicious that you might have morphed your film in order to create the visual effect of a dog talking. Obviously that’s not the case. This is truly astonishing.” He turned his attention to the others. “And these glorious animals must be Bobby and Lamb Chop! What marvelous specimens they are!”
    “There were other dogs in our video, too,” Andi said. “Did you notice the dachshund with the big, expressive eyes? Her name is Bebe, and she can shake hands and roll over.”
    “I wanna geggit owa wig,” Gabby said.
    “What he’s saying is ‘Let’s get the show on the road,’” Mr. Merlin translated. “He can’t wait to get in front of the camera!”
    “No, it’s not,” Andi said. “He said, ‘I want to get this over with.’”
    “Well, either way, let’s get the ball rolling!” Mr. Donovan said. “The studio in which we’ll be taping is down the hall, and I’d like to conduct separate interviews to avoid distractions. Those of you who aren’t involved in a taping session are free to relax and make yourselves comfortable out here. Mrs. Rinkle — I mean, Scudder — would you like for my secretary to bring you some coffee?”
    “Only if it comes with a straw,” Aunt Alice said through the hole in her mask.
    “I’m sure that can be arranged,” Mr. Donovan said. “In Hollywood all things are possible!” He turned to Mr. Merlin. “I think we should begin with Gabby, since he’s so eager to get started. Maynard, I’m going to want you to describe how you trainedthis extraordinary dog, and, of course, we’ll want him to demonstrate his abilities.” He turned to Kristy. “I’ll be asking you to explain what Lamb Chop does as a therapy dog, and perhaps you can persuade her to dance for us.”
    “Of course!” Kristy said. “Lamby loves to entertain people. I even brought along her hula skirt.”
    “As for you, Bruce,” Mr. Donovan said, “I’ll want you to describe the circumstances behind the story
Bobby Strikes Back.
Bobby’s beauty and vitality are truly electrifying. When I saw him come leaping out of the top of that storage shed, I was reminded of famous canine actors such as Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart and Lassie. Bobby has the makings of a star!”
    “Thank you, sir,” Bruce said.
    Once Mr. Donovan took Mr. Merlin and Gabby into the studio and Kristy was occupied dressing Lamb Chop in a grass skirt, Bruce slid over close to Aunt Alice and whispered, “What am I going to tell him? The rules of the contest say the video has to be based on our dog’s most dramatic moment, and it is — you can’t get much more dramatic than getting dognapped. But Andi did make some changes in details of what happened when shehoped her book would be published as a fictional novel.”
    “That does create a bit of a problem,” Aunt Alice